Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the display and also the dispensing of sales material such as refunds and rebates and, in particular, an apparatus for displaying and/or dispensing sales materials in a manner which attracts customers' attention to a featured item in the store as customers approach the area of a shelf on which the item can be found.
There exist arrangements within a store for promoting the sale of a featured item. For example, aisle displays and shopping cart advertising placards which usually do not contain refund and rebate materials, are routinely used to inform customers about products available for sale in the store.
Sales coupons or other messages announcing price discounts and other promotional information, such as recipes, instructions, and recommended uses of a product, sometimes appear on displays positioned near or on a shelf where the discounted or promotional item can be found. These messages appear either on signs mounted across the front of the shelf or on flexible material extending generally outwardly from the shelf toward the aisle.
A sign mounted across the front of the shelf is out of the direct view of approaching customers and thus is less effective than one visible from the time the customer enters the aisle. Signs made of flexible material extending outwardly from the shelf are typically held along a side margin of the shelf by a rigid bracket that is mounted thereto. A sign of this latter type cannot advantageously be positioned in the direct view of approaching customers because the rigid bracket must be of relatively short length to prevent the obstruction of the traffic pattern of shopping carts moving along with the aisle where the shelf is located. Not only are these signs easily removed by unauthorized individuals or susceptible to dislodging by customers moving past and inadvertently striking them, but also signs of this type are not readily amenable to the dispensing of promotional material for the featured item. Further, such flexible material bearing the advertising message must also be of relatively small dimensions to prevent obstructing access of customers and store clerks to items stocked on the shelf.
For the above reasons, the above-described display arrangements are suitable only for use as temporary fixtures on the shelf. This is disadvantageous if the continuous presence of an advertising message is to be guaranteed to a product supplier for specified time.
Also, product suppliers frequently offer short-term promotional campaigns in the form of discount refunds. These offers also function as advertising material announcing the presence of the item for sale. Conventionally, store refunds are located remote from the items offered for sale, typically in a service area of the store. The effectiveness of this arrangement as a sales tool is diminished, since the customer does not have ready access to the sales item and may have already concluded shopping in the particular store. Refunds and like promotional material would be made more effective if a quantity of the material was located immediately adjacent to the sales item, where the customer could obtain both the material and the sales item at the same time.